Patriarch to go on major pastoral trip in eastern Russia

August 29, 2011, 2:46 UTC+3The last stopover of the patriarchal visit is Irkutsk. The patriarch will lead the Divine Liturgy at the Znamensky Monastery

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MOSCOW, August 29 (Itar-Tass) —— Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill will go on a major pastoral trip in East Siberia on Monday. He will visit Khakassia, Tuva, Magadan and Irkutsk for six days.

The agenda of the patriarchal visit is intensive. Kirill’s father Mikhail Vasilyevich was exiled to Kolyma for his religious views. The supreme hierarch will consecrate the St. Trinity Cathedral in the regional center. The cathedral was built in commemoration of the victims of political repressions. The patriarch will also consecrate new churches in Abakan and Kyzyl.

The patriarch will visit the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydropower plant, which is under reconstruction for the second year after a hydropower disaster. The chapel was built in commemoration of 75 victims of the tragedy not far from the hydropower plant.

The last stopover of the patriarchal visit is Irkutsk. The patriarch will lead the Divine Liturgy at the Znamensky Monastery. The monument to the leader of the White Guard movement Admiral Kolchak, who was executed on the bank on the Angara River, was built not far from the monastery five years ago. The all-Russian exhibition “Orthodox Rus” will be held for the first time in Irkutsk. The patriarch will visit the exhibition.

The patriarch will begin his pastoral trip of East Siberia from Abakan. The primate of the Russian Orthodox Church will go to the Transfiguration Cathedral from the airport. The cathedral was built ten years ago. The patriarch will consecrate a new church of St. Konstantin and Yelena on the next day. This church will be the third one in the capital of Khakassia.

Kirill will go on a second long trip of eastern Russian eparchies. He toured Kamchatka, Sakhalin and Yakutia a year ago. The patriarch scheduled pastoral trips in central Russia this autumn.